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OGDEN, Utah – The Idaho State Bengals punched their ticket to the Big Sky conference tournament with a sweep of Weber State Saturday evening at Swenson Gym. The Bengals hit over .300 for the fourth time this season in the win, connecting on 51 kills off 103 attempts with just 17 errors for the .330 hitting percentage.
"I am really proud of our team tonight," Head Coach
Rick Reynolds said. "We talked about coming out and playing at a high level, focusing on our side. Weber State is a well-coached team, and we knew we needed to bring a high level of play to be successful."
The Bengals were led by freshman middle blocker
Brooke Pehrson who connected on a career- and match-high 13 kills on 16 attempts for a career-high .812 hitting percentage, good for an ISU single-match record. Sophomore outside hitter
Abby Jensen added 12 kills and six digs while junior middle blocker
Marissa Todd finished with 11 kills hitting .529. Freshman libero
Haylie Keck led the defensive effort with a match-high 14 digs for her 15th straight match with double-digit digs.
"Brooke played really well tonight," Reynolds said. "Hayley did a great job of setting her up and getting her the ball in a position she could hit easily."
In the first set, Idaho State (13-12, 8-4 BSC) took the early 10-1 lead capitalizing on five early kills and three Weber State (13-8, 4-8 BSC) errors. The Bengals hit a match-best .448 with 16 kills on 29 attempts with just three errors and never trailed in the first set, cruising to the 25-15 first set win.
The Bengals continued to dominate in the second set, hitting .406 for 16 kills. Jensen and Pehrson each delivered four kills each, while three Bengals hit over .500 in the second set. ISU never trailed in the second set, and Weber State tied the set just once at 2-2. The Bengals kept the Wildcats at bay and finished the set on a 5-1 run to win the set 25-19 and take a 2-0 lead heading into the break.
Coming out of the break, the set was close with five ties early until a kill from Jensen broke a 6-6 tie to give ISU the lead. Jensen's kill sparked an ISU 13-4 run, giving the Bengals a nine-point advantage midway through the set, 19-10. Weber State responded with a 6-0 run to cut ISU's lead to three, 19-16. A kill from junior outside hitter
Chloe Hirst ended WSU's unanswered run, but the Wildcats were not finished. WSU put together another 6-0 run to take the 22-20 lead.
A kill from Pehrson halted WSU's run, but the Wildcats responded with a kill from Amanda Varley and capitalized on a ISU hitting error to lead 24-22 with an opportunity to take the set. Jensen and Pehrson posted back-to-back kills to tie the set 24-all, but an ISU service error gave the Wildcats the advantage once again. Idaho State responded and posted three-straight kills to take the set 27-25 and sweep the Wildcats for the second time this season.
"I was excited to see our team respond and take steps forward tonight," Reynolds said.
The Bengals return home next weekend for the final home stand of the season. Idaho State welcomes Southern Utah and Northern Arizona to Reed Gym Nov. 3 and 5. Both matches are set to begin at 7 p.m.
NOTES
- Brooke Pehrson's .812 hitting percentage is the best single-match hitting percentage in ISU history in three, four and five set matches. Pehrson's hitting percentage smashes the previous three-set record of .750 set by Kristy Chatterley against Murray State on Sept. 9, 1989 and tied by Jennie James against Providence on Sept. 5, 2003.
- Farrer's match-high 42 assists gives her 3,571 career assists, good for fifth all-time in ISU history.
- Farrer's seven digs gives her 1,162 career digs, 10 shy of ninth all-time in ISU history.
- Haylie Keck's match-high 14 digs gives her 464 digs on the season which ranks eighth all-time in ISU history.
- This is the second time this season that Marissa Todd has hit over .500. Todd hit a career-best .536 at Montana State on Oct. 8, connecting on 17 kills on 28 attempts with just two errors.
